


Shoebox

by sunday



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-08
Updated: 2013-01-07
Packaged: 2017-11-24 03:06:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/629659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunday/pseuds/sunday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She comes in every morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shoebox

She comes in every morning.  
  
The late-rising winter sun has already been bathing the town in light for hours, doing it’s best to warm the townspeople but to no avail, and so she arrives donned in layer upon layer, from the green knit toque to the matching knit scarf to the two gloved hands protectively pressing this morning’s book of choice to the breast of her wool jacket.  
  
She owns only two coats, a corduroy navy pea coat with cream buttons and a fur-lined wool jacket the color of birch bark, but she has many, many scarves. And for every scarf, she has a thousand books.   
  
On that particular morning, the book was a simple paperback. With no trace of library bindings and the way the spine had only just begun to show it’s creases, Ruby knew it was fresh from her own fledgling collection.   
  
So when she arrives at Belle’s seat at the front booth, by the window, with ample sunlight and ample opportunity to people watch when her eyes and mind need a moment’s rest, Ruby can’t help but run a single finger delicately down the spine of the book where it lays on the table.  
  
 _The Age of Innocence_ by Edith Wharton, she sees, but her attention quickly reverts back to the other woman.  
  
“Is this a new one?” Ruby asks.  
  
Belle nods, her faintly freckled nose scrunching up as she grins, and affectionately taps the book with one gloved hand.  
  
“It arrived in the mail yesterday, and admittedly a few others. No thanks to you, Ruby, I’m beginning to think I’ve got a mild addiction to online shopping,” Belle says, a brow arched with practiced ease.  
  
(If she didn’t know any better, she’d wonder how the town’s librarian can afford so much -- but she does know better, and she makes sure to never wonder.)  
  
“You _think_?” Ruby replies teasingly. “Why don’t I go get your hazelnut latte, which you’re clearly not addicted to either, and... ?”  
  
Ruby purposely trails off, waiting for Belle’s input on her morning’s breakfast order. There’s another nose crinkle, a ever so slight duck of her head and then she’s looking up at Ruby through full, dark eyelashes.   
  
“The waffles with the tiny, little chocolate chips?” she asks bashfully, grinning with her bottom lip trapped between her teeth. “With bananas on top?  
  
(Ruby can’t help but want to run a single finger delicately along the curve of her lip.)  
  
Instead she rolls her eyes with a mocking sigh, and turns back towards the counter.   
  
“You’re horrible!” she dramatically mutters, making sure Belle can still clearly hear her. She hears a breathy laugh from behind her, a sound that spreads and warms her more than the early November sunlight ever could.  
  
“Sprinkles, too, if you will.”  
  


* * *

  
  
Ruby has read _The Age of Innocence_.   
  
It might have been 20 years ago, or 10, or maybe it was just last year, she doesn’t know -- but she’s read it, and she remembers it.  
  
She thinks of placing white lilies in a vase, she thinks of warm yellow roses, she thinks, but the vase stays empty, wrapped in old newspapers and safely stored in a box in the back.  
  


* * *


End file.
